The New York Dolls - "Subway Train" (1973)

A tall tale of romance flying high in the face of urban desolation.

David Johansen rides the subway, trying to talk with the girl of his dreams but she keeps ignoring him, so he keeps on riding and riding the train, trying to corner her. Eventually he realizes her daddy is pimping her but though he embellishes the situation with a clever turn of phrase, he still finds it hard to fully elucidate the whole truth:

Ya gotta get on back to daddy
That's all its gonna be
He got the poison black arts of the pimps
But don't ya st- st-

Though I can always hear the narrator's stark paranoia, the Dolls manage to imbue the song with a great sense of fun. For one thing, Johansen and Johnny Thunders are smart enough to acknowledge the great tradition of train songs with the song's best verse:

I think ah see the train
I see ya got an open track
I'm hopin
One of those gonna bring my baby back

And even the lines where Johansen's worst fears have been realized are simply catchy and thrilling:

Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah
I know whoa whoa whoa

Of course, the best part of the song is the sheer sonic whoosh of Thunders' and Syl Sylvian's guitars, with Johnny slowing down his usual sawmill style only to reach an even greater emotional intensity.

Lyrics copyright Johansen/Thunders.